Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an instant messaging system and more particularly to a system and method of assigning security levels to different instant messaging contacts based on contact type across multiple device partitions.
Description of the Related Art
Data security in electronic communications is essential for many organizations, particularly in regulated industries, government services and industries in which the electronic communications may contain sensitive, proprietary or confidential information. While the number of platforms for electronic communications have increased (e.g., email, text messaging, instant messaging, social networking, etc.), by in large, a great deal of the electronic communications over mobile networks remains unprotected or minimally protected, placing the content of those communications at risk for interception.
Even in systems where security measures are implemented, these measures are generally applied “across-the-board” to all contacts, or are not applied at all. However, across-the-board measures consume processing, storage and transmission resources and require a certain amount of time to authenticate. While communications with certain contacts may require the use of these measures, other contacts may not require such measures. Additionally, for a particular contact whose conversations do not usually require security measures, or require a modest degree of security, certain messages may be deemed more sensitive than others.